Western Europe Flashcards
The Franks
known as a group of Germanic tribes that inhabited the land between the Lower and Middle Rhine in the 3rd century AD.
Pope
the bishop of Rome as head of the Roman Catholic Church.
synonyms:
Monk
a member of a religious community of men typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
Missionary
a person sent on a religious mission, especially one sent to promote Christianity in a foreign country.
synonyms:
Convent
a Christian community under monastic vows, especially one of nuns.
Clovis
a Paleo-Indian culture of Central and North America, dated to about 11,500–11,000 years ago and earlier. The culture is distinguished by heavy, leaf-shaped stone spearheads.
Charlemagne
king of the Franks 768–814; as Charles I, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire 800–814.
Carolingian Dynasty
was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD.
Middle Ages
the period of European history from the fall of the Roman Empire in the West (5th century) to the fall of Constantinople (1453), or, more narrowly, from circa 1100 to 1453.
Vikings
any of the Scandinavian seafaring pirates and traders who raided and settled in many parts of northwestern Europe in the 8th–11th centuries.
Mongols
a native or inhabitant of Mongolia; a Mongolian.
Genghis khan
founder of the Mongol empire; born Temujin.
Khanate
a political entity ruled by a Khan or Khagan.
The Golden Horde
the army of Mongol Tartars that overran eastern Europe in the 13th century, established a khanate in Russia, and maintained suzerainty there until the 15th century.
Feudalism
the dominant social system in medieval Europe, in which the nobility held lands from the Crown in exchange for military service, and vassals were in turn tenants of the nobles, while the peasants (villeins or serfs) were obliged to live on their lord’s land and give him homage, labor, and a share of the produce, notionally in exchange for military protection.
Vassal
a holder of land by feudal tenure on conditions of homage and allegiance.
Knight
a man who served his sovereign or lord as a mounted soldier in armor.
Fief
a fee or feud held of a feudal lord; a tenure of land subject to feudal obligations.
Chivalry
the sum of the ideal qualifications of a knight, including courtesy, generosity, valor, and dexterity in arms.
Manor
any similar territorial unit in medieval Europe, as a feudal estate.
Nun
a woman member of a religious order, especially one bound by vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
Serf
a person in a condition of servitude, required to render services to a lord, commonly attached to the lord’s land and transferred with it from one owner to another.
Monastery
a house or place of residence occupied by a community of persons, especially monks, living in seclusion under religious vows.
